Manchester United Set For Talks Over De Gea Contract

Manchester United Want Keeper To Stay

Real Now Unlikely To Pursue De Gea

Manchester United are to hold talks with David De Gea about a new contract at Old Trafford. But while those talks are largely aimed at fending off a deal from Real Madrid this summer, the La Liga side’s interest appears to be on the wane.

De Gea was the subject of a bid from Real Madrid in August 2015, but the transfer failed to go through after United held on to his release documents right up to the last minute.

The Spain international is out of contract at Manchester United in the summer of 2019. However, the club have an option to extend his current deal by a further year. This ‘4+1’ deal – four years with an option of a further year – is becoming a feature of United player contracts. The extra year gives the club some breathing space as they look to open talks with De Gea over a new deal.

Real look set to replace Keylor Navas this summer. De Gea, Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois and Athletic Bilbao’s young Spain international Kepa Arrizabalaga are the favourites to replace him.

However, Real look set to take the younger and cheaper option. With De Gea and Courtois priced in the £60-70million range the Spanish giants look to have opted to go for Arrizabalaga. The 23-year-old is out of contract with Athletic at the end of the season and is refusing to talk about a new deal.

Reports last month claimed that Real were ready to pay in excess of Arrizabalaga’s release fee of €20million (£17.6million) in a bid to fend off interest from Premier League clubs. Arrizabalaga is now free to speak to overseas teams. Liverpool have been linked.

The fact that no bid has been made from any English club suggests that Arrizabalaga looks set to move to the Bernabeu this summer. That ends Madrid’s interest in either De Gea or Courtois.

De Gea’s agent Jorge Mendes was in Manchester on Wednesday for talks over Jose Mourinho’s new contract with United. Mourinho made reference to the extra year’s option in De Gea’s contract at a press conference last weekend.

“Obviously we are going to try to give him a contract that keeps him here for much longer than that option that, of course, we are going to execute,” he said.

“I don’t discuss numbers and contracts. I just say what is obvious. Anyone of you would say the same – David is to keep.”

The good news for De Gea is that he won’t have to take a pay cut to his £200,000-a-week wages. A move to Real Madrid would have meant earning less money, but he would have been able to move in with his girlfriend, the Spanish pop singer Edurne Garcia. She has recently been looking for a new home in the La Finca district of Madrid, already home to a number of Real Madrid stars.